Alpha Centauri putting on a scintillating show when winning the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket by four-and-a-half lengths, following up Irish 1000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot for trainer Jessica Harrington, and staking claims to being the best miler around
Aiden O’Brien training and Ryan Moore riding two Group 1 winners either side of the English Channel with US Navy Flag successfully returning to 6f to win Newmarket’s July Cup and Kew Gardens putting a disappointing Derby run behind him to with victory in the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp
Goddess winning by ten lengths at Leopardstown and Pollyanna winning the next day at Newmarket with both looking like serious 1000 Guineas candidates, albeit that the latter avoided trouble in running that earnt Frankie Dettori a 10-day ban meaning that unless there’s a successful appeal he’s missing the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Glorious Goodwood
Sixteen horses being entered for the first of 10 trial ‘optional claiming handicaps’ which begin at Yarmouth on 18 July – the races, each with £30,000 prize-money, are aimed at 4yos and older rated in the 80s and 90s and trainers ‘buy’ a handicap rating of up to 7lb below their current rating provided they make the horse available for claiming at a pre-determined price commensurate with the chosen allowance
Trainers receiving help in collecting unpaid bills from owners through a debt collection service called Group 1 Credit Management, set up jointly by Wetherbys Racing Bank and debt collection agency, for a £99 + VAT monthly fee
Ruby Walsh planning to be back in the saddle at the Galway Festival having been side-lined with a broken leg after a fall at the Cheltenham Festival
England’s world Cup quarter-final game against Sweden failing to have a major effect on ITV Racing’s viewing figures for the Eclipse at Sandown, with an average of 462,000 viewers, 1% down on prior year and a peak of 657,000, slightly up on 2017 – Sandown’s attendance was down 10%
STEWARDS ROOM
…and what hasn’t been so good
Jockey Paul Mulrennan fracturing three vertebrae when a horse he was riding on the gallops suddenly stopped, sending the rider over its head – fortunately the injuries do not require surgery and, after rehab, he hopes to back riding in about six weeks
Injury forcing Derby winner Masar to miss the rest of the season, but plans are being made for him to continue as a 4yo
ITV Racing, angered by Ascot’s decision to award a two-year contract from March 2018 for its ‘pay-per-view’ rights to what will be known as Sky Racing, reversing a decision to show the Shergar Cup meeting on the main channel and instead putting it out on ITV4
Bet With Ascot, the pool betting joint-venture set up with the Tote, making its debut where punters can bet into away meeting pools but not accumulator bets such as the Placepot and Jackpot
Racecourses reporting a fall in attendance on ‘Super Saturday’ up against the third-place World Cup play-off match involving England – Newmarket’s crowd was down 3,000 on last year at 13,000, York was a shade under 4% down whilst Ascot was hit by a 21% drop – both Ascot and Newmarket elected for early starts whereas York’s first race was 1.55
